1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of improving commute traffic, more specifically, to automatic gathering of data over a period of time on paths taken by commuters and the analysis of this data to provide recommendations for improvements.
2. Description of Related Art
Commute traffic and the time people spend commuting is a major deterrent to quality of life in many metropolitan and suburban areas. This is true within the United States as well as in other industrialized nations and even in some not so industrialized nations. The problem is not new and numerous attempts to solve or at least improve it have been made. Nevertheless, there are few locations in which commute traffic levels or commute times have decreased.
One of the simplest approaches to this problem is carpooling, where two or more commuters drive to work together. Despite its simplicity, carpooling has enormous potential to substantially aid in solving the problem. If one out of five of the commuters along a given route would carpool with a single other commuter, then traffic would be cut by about 10%, which, in practical terms, is substantial.
Vanpooling is where a six- to twelve-passenger vehicle, perhaps sponsored by the commuters"" employer or employers, is used primarily for commuting. If one out of twenty of the commuters along a given route would vanpool with five other commuters, then traffic would be cut by 4%.
The traffic-carrying capacity of many roads diminishes dramatically once a threshold is reached such that those roads have backups or stop-and-go traffic. Thus, a reduction in vehicles of a particular percentage sometimes results in an overall reduction in commute time that is substantially larger than that percentage. Additionally, in situations where carpooling or vanpooling makes those commuters who participate eligible to use special carpool lanes, there can be a dramatic reduction in commute time for those commuters.
Despite the effectiveness of carpooling and vanpooling, and the simplicity of carpooling, such methods are not in widespread use in most areas with commute traffic problems. A typical passenger car used for commuting can hold three or more adults comfortably, yet studies and common experience indicate that most such cars convey only a single person to and from their place of employment.
But who should a particular commuter ride with? Some extroverts may be acquainted with most of the neighbors on their street and most of the employees within their business (or business unit if employed by a large company), but many people are not. However, even the set of people known by an unusual person are only a small fraction of those with whom it may make sense to carpool.
Group travel may work well by combining the commute of people who live and work within, for example, five to ten minutes of each other. Traveling together may even work well for a commuter whose start or end point is not close to the start or end point of their potential carpool partner, but is along their way. If a particular commuter""s start point and end point are urban or suburban, then there may be a hundred or more other commuters who live where they may be reasonable commute partners, and another hundred or more who work at a suitable end point. The trick is to find within this several commuters at least one commuter with a suitable start point, a suitable end point, and suitable commute times.
Thus, an individual commuter is likely to find it daunting to attempt to find partners for a carpool or a vanpool. A major factor that inhibits adopting group travel is the complexity involved in the process of a commuter finding out who they can reasonably ride with.
Accordingly, there is a need for a means for gathering data over a period of time on paths taken by a number of commuters and for analyzing this data to provide recommendations for commute improvements.
Broadly speaking, according to the invention commute-path data is gathered and analyzed by receiving and inputting an indication that a number of commuters will participate, by gathering data over a period of time on the commute paths taken by the participating commuters, and by analyzing the commute path data and providing recommendations based thereon automatically by means of a computer.
In some embodiments, the enrollment indication specifies a privacy setting for the commuter, a commute constraint or preference for the commuter or a method for gathering the commute path data for the commuter, or any, some or all of these constraints.
In other embodiments, the commute path data may alternatively be gathered by: recording time and position data from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver that the commuter carries; recording time and position data from a mobile phone that the commuter carries; receiving a departure indication from the commuter; receiving an arrival indication from the commuter; or receiving a commute log from the commuter.
In yet other embodiments, the commute path data is augmented with a likely route that is automatically generated based on a start point, an end point and a map.
In some embodiments, the commute path data is analyzed by employing a similarity metric for determining a subset of the commuters whose commute paths are similar. The similarities examined may include, but are not limited to: having a similar start point; having a similar end point; having a similar start point and a similar end point; having a start point similar to a particular point; having an end point similar to a particular point; having a start point similar to a first particular point and an end point similar to a second particular point; having a start point close to a particular trajectory; having an end point close to a particular trajectory; having a trajectory close to a particular start point; and having a trajectory close to a particular end point.
In other embodiments, the output recommendations may include, but are not limited to: suggesting that a subset of commuters carpool; suggesting that a subset of commuters vanpool; suggesting that a subset of commuters take a mass transit route; suggesting that a subset of commuters take a mass transit route augmented with a last mile service; suggesting that a subset of commuters alter their commute time of day; and suggesting that a subset of commuters alter their commute route.